Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Fuck. I have to find whoever is threatening her. There is no other choice. Because if anything happens to her, I'm going to lose my goddamn mind. And so is the man standing beside me.
"I guess we can rule out her fucking manager," I mutter, pulling on the gloves Clive Rucker gave me. I use them to pull several photos off the wall, tape and all, and then slip them into the Ziploc bags Kane holds out to me.
"Guess so," he grunts.
It couldn't have been John because he was at the table beside us all night. He didn't leave or excuse himself to the bathroom until he stormed out. There's a back entrance to the bar, but he would have had to circle all the way around the block to get to it, and that isn't a short walk. It's nearly a mile. There's no way he would have had time to get to the entrance, hang all of these photos, and get out in the few minutes it took for Kenna to finish her song and us to get back here afterward.
He didn't do this.
Which means we have no fucking suspects at all. Because no one in the bar acted suspicious or odd in any way. They were just country music fans enjoying the music and the woman singing it.
What the fuck am I missing?
"You okay, Sparrow?" I ask, watching as Kenna floats around her living room like a ghost haunting the place. It's breaking my fucking heart. She hasn't been able to sit still since we got home.
"You guys were right about John." She spins to face me, her eyes wide in her pale face. "I saw the way he looked at me tonight when I took you up on stage tonight, Gideon. You were right about him."
"It wasn't him, Kenna."
"You don't know that," she whispers. "He was really angry. He looked at me like he hated me."
"No, he looked at me like he hates me," I correct, striding toward her. "You did nothing wrong."
"I didn't see what was right in front of my face."
"You don't owe him anything, Sparrow." I stop in front of her, cupping her cheek to tilt her head back. "He's your manager. You don't have to fuck him just because he helped get you a record deal. If he expects that, he's a fucking asshole. That's not love. That's manipulation. It's predatory."
"I thought he was a good guy, Gideon." Her expression falls. "I thought he was helping me because he believed in me. And all this time, he's just wanted to sleep with me. It all feels wrong now."
"That doesn't mean you don't deserve the deal you got, Sparrow. You've worked your ass off to get where you are. If he opened a door for you because he hoped to get something more out of it, fuck him. But that doesn't mean the door has to close. He may have cracked it open, but your talent allowed you to step through, not him. He can't take that away from you."
"What am I going to do?"
"Fire him and hire someone who deserves to be your manager. Someone who will fight for you every step of the way." I think I may know someone who can help, but I don't tell her that just in case I can't make it happen for her. I don't want to get her hopes up on the off chance that I'm wrong.
"Do you think…?"
"He didn't do it, Sparrow," I say again, my voice firm. "As much as I fucking hate to defend the guy, he wasn't the one who put those pictures up in your dressing room. And if he didn't put them up, chances are, he isn't the one who took them, either."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because stalkers don't work in groups. It's a solitary endeavor. And he didn't leave the table all night until the very end. At that point, he didn't have time to do all of that. And, frankly, even if he'd had time, the photos were hung too goddamn high up for him to reach."
For the first time in hours, she cracks a smile.
"There you are," I murmur, pulling her closer. "There's that fucking perfect smile."
"Gideon."
"Don't Gideon me, baby. I haven't seen that smile in hours. I was going crazy waiting for it." I brush my thumb across her bottom lip. "You have no idea the depths I'd sink to just to see it again, do you?"
"I'm beginning to get a good idea."
"No, I don't think you are, Sparrow." I shake my head, dead serious. "I've been all over this world. I've seen beautiful things. But not a single one of them makes me feel like that smile does. It's my own personal addiction, Kenna. The possibility of getting to see it every day for the rest of my life? That's something worth fighting for. And the possibility of never seeing it again makes my fucking heart hurt."